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■ Broadcast: JTBC Morning & / Progress: Lee Jung-heon
On the 23rd, bloody riots broke out in four major prisons in Ecuador, South America. It has been reported that 79 people have been killed so far. Families of inmates gather near a prison in Ecuador, where the riots broke out, and they are raging. They are appealing that there is no way to even determine the lives and deaths of the inmates, as the authorities suppressed the riots and blocked the prisons. In addition to the 79 people who are known to have died, there are many seriously injured people, so the number of deaths may increase further. Some families have loaded coffins saying that they will recover their bodies. Let’s listen to the inmate’s mother.
[재소자의 어머니 : 내 아들이 (교도소 안에서) 죽을 수 있기 때문에 내보내달라는 겁니다. (당국은) 내 아들이 죽은 후에야 내보내주려고 합니다. 제발 그러지 마세요. 내 아들이 죽을 것 같기 때문에 내보내달라고 요청한 겁니다.]
Immediately after the riots, Ecuadorian authorities dispatched more than 800 armed police officers into the prison. They launched a massive suppression operation. The tense scene contained in the police camera was revealed. Investigations revealed that two criminal organizations were fighting for supremacy over the positions of prison inmates. Even a weapon made by hand in the prison was used to inflict significant human damage. Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has sent a strong warning message to criminal organizations. Let’s listen.
[레닌 모레노/에콰도르 대통령 : 우리의 공존을 위협하는 어두운 세력이 있습니다. 결코 허용될 수 없습니다.]
Prison riots in Ecuador have been repeated several times in the past. Last year, more than 100 inmates were killed. In Ecuador, as well as in most countries in Latin America, prison riots are becoming a serious social problem. In July 2019, a riot broke out in a prison in Brazil, killing more than 60 people. Let’s discuss in more detail with an expert why prison riots are common in Latin American countries. In-Taek Chae Connected to the JoongAng Ilbo by telephone.
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If there is a riot in the prison, isn’t it, after all, that the prison’s internal control is not working properly? What is the biggest reason?
The biggest thing is overcrowding. If you look at the statistics, the total number of inmates in Ecuador in 2000 was 8,000. But in 2010, it surpassed 10,000, and now more than 38,000 are in prison. As a result, the prison is very overcrowded. However, since the country itself is not a rich country, the prisons have become very overcrowded because they have not been able to expand facilities by investing enough budget in the prisons. In the midst of that, organized criminals entered the prison and fought like now. When looking at the start of the case, in December of last year, there was a criminal group called Los Choneros, Ecuador’s largest organized criminal group. The boss there was murdered while shopping after his release. Then, in the prison, the Los Choneros crew brought in firearms saying they would take revenge. The gun was caught the day before this riot and confiscated. Other organizations who heard this news formed an alliance, and then we first attacked, so they responded with violence against the members of the Los Coneros, and the members of the Los Coneros were also very large in the prisons, so the armed police responded to it. It is analyzed that it has led to a great riot that cannot but be put in.
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As you said, the overcrowding problem seems to be the biggest. In the case of Ecuadorian prisons, the capacity is 27,000 people, but it is said that the actual capacity is over 38,000 people.
That’s right. After all, it is now Ecuador’s economic problem. Ecuador is a country famous for the Galapagos Islands that Darwin visited, and there are a lot of people who want to go sightseeing. However, security is a problem, and it is a poor country with a population of 17 million and a GDP per capita of about 6,200 dollars at nominal prices. I can’t even care about the prison. For this reason, the now predecessor, President Rafael Correa, has brought a facial recognition security system from China despite accusations of human rights issues. So now, we tried to increase the level of security across a country and monitor the prisons a little bit, and the prestige and violence of these organized criminals has become a situation that is causing more and more problems.
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Aren’t drug crime groups also active in Central and South America? What level is it?
That’s right. The crime group I mentioned earlier, called Los Choneros, is a criminal organization with 5,000 members nationwide. Their main job is to do things like this in the cartels, a drug trafficking organization in Colombia across the border. By the way, the Colombian organization accumulated tremendous wealth by supplying large amounts of cocaine to the United States. The boss of Escobar, who is now famous in dramas, had a fortune of 30 billion dollars when the Colombian drug gang leader died in 1993. It’s worth about 60 billion dollars now. With this money overflow, organized crime in neighboring countries, especially in now poor Ecuador, is taking place. Looking at it now, it is not a problem of one country, one prison, or one organization, but the biggest problem is whether we should eradicate drug crimes in all of South America and prevent the effect of flooding each other.
The New York Times reported that “the prison riots in Ecuador have multiple factors,” and that “the Ecuadorian government’s persistent budget shortage needs to be addressed.” Human rights groups say that in order to eradicate the prison riots in Latin America, it is necessary to ensure basic rights of inmates, such as thorough investigations and resolving the problem of overcrowding in prisons.